A recent preview of Kirby’s Epic Yarn (or Epic Yam, as we like to call it) in Nintendo Power, showcased the story and background behind Kirby’s latest adventure. It turns out that the sorceror Yin-Yarn is out to cause mayhem by turning Dream Land's inhabitants into Yarn. Kirby, being the only one who can try to take action, ends up angering the sorceror, and is sucked into the sock around Yin-Yarn's neck, leaving Kirby in Patch Land. The article included this screenshot from the game's story.

It [...] like... pants will surely last until launch, when it will experience a resurgence, giving it immortality.

This begs the question: How can Kirby have any knowledge of pants, or their textural qualities, when he doesn’t even wear them? It’s the perfect, silly choice for a whimsical game like Epic Yarn.

Whether that was the original intention of the Japanese story or was introduced in the translation, this is surely the best garment related exclamation since Pokémon’s "I like shorts! They’re comfy and easy to wear."

For clarification: In the UK, pants refers exclusively to "underpants," with the equivalent term being “trousers." It is also used as an adjective, but only in the form of an exclamation to convey that something is bad, in the form, "That’s pants."

The division of the meaning of pants has come up before, in the context of former mascot for the survey page of former Rareware website, Mr. Pants. In this case, visitors from outside the UK were confused by the lack of pants on the mascot, who sported a pair of red Y-fronts as his trademark. Of course pants was in reference to his only clothing item, as UK English would describe; still, "but he doesn't wear pants!" was often heard.

Mr. Pants, old and new

Nonetheless, the rebranded Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers puzzle game for Game Boy Advance was given a European and North American release, with an ESRB rating of "E for Everyone" and the title It's Mr. Pants. This particular game used a crayon-shaded art style.  From Crayon Mr. Pants to Thread Kirby, pants and characterised artwork seem to go hand-in-hand.

Once localised for Europe, the English edition of Kirby’s Epic Yarn will surely experience a loss comparable to “SHINE GET!” being changed to the far less memorable, “SHINE!” of Super Mario Sunshine. I already mourn the loss. Do you think that we have reached the heights of pants in games? Let us know in the Talkback comments.

With thanks to Aaron Kaluszka for Kirby With Pants.